1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the packaging of integrated circuits.
2. State of the Art
When designing integrated circuits, thermal factors must be considered because of the heat which the circuits generate during operation. Typically, integrated circuits are encapsulated by polymeric material that has relatively low thermal conductivity and, therefore, does not effectively dissipate heat that the chips generate. In low-power integrated circuit devices, lead frames have been relied upon for dissipating heat by thermal conduction. For dissipating heat in higher power integrated circuits, metal heat spreaders or heat sinks have been attached to the outside of the package or incorporated directly into the package as an insert during the molding step.